Traction What are the NEGATIVES to widening the rear wheels / rear end?

[fishpick]

Aside from "not fitting between X"... what other negatives would there be to moving rear wheel outward when the rims support "wider" positions?

 

[motownbrowne]

If you're trying to get through deep snow or something, the rear tires don't follow in the front tire tracks anymore. Same applies for fitting down the rows of a garden or something.

I suppose technically it puts more strain on the wheel bearings, but it's a non steer axle and is designed to take that much load, so I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[oosik]

If moving the rims/tires to a wider position - as mine is - you could have a portion of the tire outside the rear fender - again, as mine is. If you travel thru muddy situations with great rapidity - as I do not - you could have the rear tires flinging mud.

I have NEVER had an problems created by my rear tires not following in the tracks of the front tires. Max snow depth here has been 26" but my M6040 weighs 10,100# in its "winter form" and drives on thru the 26" as if it were not there. This is what mine is like - about 50% to 60% of the rear tire width is OUTSIDE the rear fender. This is with the rims mounted to the max width which makes the tires 80" - outside to outside.

View attachment 544182

 

[art]

Depending on customer needs it is quite common for us to make them wide for side hill farmers!

 

[FTG-05]

One of the first things I did with my tractor was widen the rear tires to it's widest stance, since I live and work on hills here in TN.

The one downside I see is that I can no longer get as close to things as I bushhog or use my BB. In both cases,I followed the User's Manual for implements and bought 6' attachments, whereas in restrospect I should have bought 7' implements. When I bought my EA rear grader blade last summer, I bought the 8' version for exactly this reason.

 

[bkrgi]

None, other than the minor details already mentioned ....not like your going beyond the manufactures designed capabilities risking a axle break or bearing fail or?

 

[RSKY]

I hadn't really thought about it but why don't you widen the front too. When we farmed with the Ford 641 and later with the Ford 4600 we always widened the front and rear the same so they would fit between the crop rows. Wouldn't widening the front make the tractor that much more stable?

RSKY

 

[Wolfy]

Besides having a giant turning radius, most compact tractor owner manuals directly state to not dish out the front wheels. They can not tolerate the added stress. The large farming tractors of yesteryear were a different story.

 

[ericm979]

Widening the front won't help stability due to the pivot in the center of the front axle. I suppose that it'd help once the tractor leans far enough for the pivot to hit it's limit but that's too far for me.

 

[motownbrowne]

I hadn't really thought about it but why don't you widen the front too. When we farmed with the Ford 641 and later with the Ford 4600 we always widened the front and rear the same so they would fit between the crop rows. Wouldn't widening the front make the tractor that much more stable?

RSKY

Mainly the reason not to do it is because of the front end loader, and the amount of stress it puts on the axle. Move the wheels out and the stress on the bearings increases. Beyond that, no it wouldn't really make the tractor any more stable. Since the front axle pivots, the additional width only comes into play once you hit the stop at the end of the travel. If you hit that stop with any momentum, I don't think how far out your wheel is is gonna make much difference.

 

[/pine]

FWIW...most dealers keep their inventory as narrow as possible because of room on their lots and the sake of maneuvering...

 

[TerryR]

I hadn't really thought about it but why don't you widen the front too.

When we asked our dealer to widen the wheels on our JD 870 twenty years ago he did widen both front and rears. But at their widest the fronts are not as wide as the rears.

Wouldn't widening the front make the tractor that much more stable?

Not really, because the pivot point for the front is in the center of the axle until it hits the stops, buy which time there is probably so much momentum that the front axle is unlikely to stop any roll-over that's in progress.

 

[goeduck]

View attachment 544182

That is one beefy top cylinder. Nice. Diameter?

 

[Texasmark]

1 reason I used: Tires were outside implements in use. Otherwise I liked them out a goodly amount for stability on my rolling terrain.

 

[Cougsfan]

There is disadvantage of widening the wheels if you are using a box blade or scraper blade and you make the wheels wider that the width if the blade. It will still work, but you won't drag over your wheel tracks if your trying to make the ground look really spiffy. If you are grading a road, you can't grade as close to the edge of the road.

 

[rd_macgregor]

Valve stems will be on the inside, so a bit more difficult to reach.

 

[Uruguayo]

From my own experiences, I can say that widening the trail of the rear axle of your tractor will not generate any physical mechanical problem to the tractor, you should evaluate and take into account what will be the greatest use you will give to the tractor so that the widening is not a problem then, for example, the wide wheels will give you problems if you use a brush cutter or a rear leveling blade that are narrower, you have to be very careful when using a wider front axle, because you will suffer much more forces, a tractor with the axes of different widths will not serve you to make furrows with a plow.
In my particular case I must take my wood for the winter of places with ravines, so I only widened my tractors back and placed stops on the front axle to reduce the pibot. In my opinion, the width of the axes is very specific in terms of work and places where you should go.

 

[joeu235]

If your cutting hay, the tire will lay down the grass and leave high spots everywhere. I worked for an old timer on a large ranch and every time he cut hay, we would reverse the right rear wheel to make it narrower.

 

[joeu235]

Also, I'm sure your not row cropping but the tire needs to stay between the rows when pulling a cultivator.

 

[CobyRupert]

In my particular case I must take my wood for the winter of places with ravines, so I only widened my tractors back and placed stops on the front axle to reduce the pibot. In my opinion, the width of the axes is very specific in terms of work and places where you should go.

Stops to reduce front axle pivot? Why?

You must only go through ravines at a right / perpendicular angle? I wish my tractor had MORE pivot, because sometimes when going through a ravine at a 45 degree angle, one front tire and one back tire end up in the air spinning, even in 4 wheel drive. Differential lock then becomes your friend. ...and 4wd is really 1 wheel drive at that moment.